Leitrim County Council responds to local group on N4 Carrick to Dromod project

Leitrim County Council said the N4 Carrick-on-Shannon to Dromod Project “is being carried out in accordance with all relevant procedures and guidelines regarding a project of this scale.”

This response was made to claims by the N4 Preferred Solution Group that both Leitrim and Roscommon County Council have not ruled out any of the proposed routes for the N4 project.

A statement from the group to the Leitrim Observer this week said that, subsequent to letters issued by Leitrim County Council, on September 22, regarding the N4 Carrick-on-Shannon to Dromod project, an emergency committee meeting was held by the N4 Preferred Solution Group.

The first issue raised at the meeting was the survey area which is no longer confined to the corridor identified at the public display back in May 2022. It was noted that it is now an unlimited area.

It was further noted by the committee that a licence for the survey is still in place for all other routes, and far from eliminating other routes, they are all still on the table.

Attendees agreed that the situation was vastly unfair, and a whitewash serving to leave the local community in a state of limbo.

The committee have endeavoured unsuccessfully to uncover what procurement (contract process) was used from the project outset. They say it still remains unclear as to who is carrying out the procurement for an additional eight consultants.

During the meeting it was reiterated that, according to them, the process is not in line with TII policy, and to omit the list of consultants from the recent letter from the initial phase of the project showed a decision on the most viable corridor could not reached without their expertise, leaving the project flawed from the outset.

There are clearly defined phased processes containing seven phases for the completion of the project, the group noted.

However, there are no interim phases allowed for in the project plan. The committee agreed that this was a departure from clearly set out phases in any given transport project.

Therefore, the committee decided to continue their pursuit to seek all information with regard to the procurement process.

They agreed that a letter will be sent to the Minister for Transport, Eamonn Ryan and the TII as part of a report.

A spokesperson for the N4 Preferred Solution Group said, “We were promised by ARUP that we would be directly involved, yet are excluded. And this is indeed the opposite to what was said publicly, both during and after the public display.”

The N4 Preferred Solution Group are seeking further funding in order to have representatives present during all the environmental surveys.

It was also agreed that planned protests outside ARUP, Leitrim County Council and Roscommon County Council would be put on temporary hold.

It was also noted during the meeting that it is the group's view that the Blueway is now at risk of never proceeding, as all original routes remain on the table.

In response, Leitrim County Council said the N4 Carrick-on-Shannon to Dromod Project “is being carried out in accordance with all relevant procedures and guidelines regarding a project of this scale.”

The Preferred Transport Solution was on Public Display in May 2022. A copy of all of the display material presented is available to view on the project website at https://carrickdromod.ie/

“The Preferred Transport Solution is an integrated transport solution that includes active travel measures for walking and cycling, improvements to public transport, demand management measures and new and improved road infrastructure for the communities along the N4 transport corridor,” a Council spokesperson said.

“The Option Selection Report is currently going through a final review, and it is due to be published in Q4 2022.

“This report will be made available on the project website and contains all of the supporting detail behind each step in the analysis during Phase 2, documenting both the assessments undertaken and the decisions made to develop the Preferred Transport Solution in accordance with TII Project Management Guidelines.

“The project is advancing surveys for Phase 3 at this time, again in line with the TII Project Management Guidelines.

“The Blueway project is a separate project which is progressing, and the relevant design processes continues to be ongoing,” the reply concluded.